Which team is set up for the biggest fall next season?

Steve Aschburner, NBA.com: However many victories people expect the Denver Nuggets to cough back from their total of 57 last season, I think it will be more. Matching last year’s ensemble-driven performance was going to be tough enough with their core of Andre Iguodala on the court, George Karl on the bench and Masai Ujiri in the front office. That Musketeers stuff is hard in a star-driven league. Now, with a rookie head coach (Brian Shaw), a personnel dip defensively (losing Corey Brewer and Kosta Koufos), Danilo Gallinari‘s recovery and mercenary/journeyman summer additions (Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson, Randy Foye), I think the Nuggets’ slide well into the lottery.

Brian Shaw will have a lot of work to do in Denver.

Fran Blinebury, NBA.com: Oh, let’s take a 57-win team and blow it up. Mission accomplished by Nuggets ownership. The expected slippage with the departure of Karl, Ujiri and Iguodala could turn into an avalanche of defeat and disappointment.

Jeff Caplan, NBA.com: The Grizzlies keep coming back to me as a team that could easily slip, a team that let go of the coach that built the program, a team that still hasn’t addressed its glaring need for shooting, although signing an injury-prone Mike Miller and being in talks with Mo Williams is progress. However, the team I can’t help believe will ride the biggest, most disappointing slide is the New York Knicks. The brains on the floor, Jason Kidd, is coaching in Brooklyn. Aging, injury-prone players abound. The No. 2 seed last season couldn’t get past Indiana in the second round and the Pacers, along with the Bulls and Nets (heck, maybe even Atlanta with a new coach and key personnel changes) will all be improved. At best the Knicks are a No. 5 seed in the top-heavy East and any championship talk that wafted through Madison Square Garden last season will likely heat up again just a short subway ride away.

Scott Howard-Cooper, NBA.com: Utah. As much as it pains me as a long-time Jazz proponent, this season could be a harder fall than a fall from playoff contention. They are much thinner than before and now need Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Trey Burke, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks to play big.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com: Don’t be shocked if Denver goes from the 3 seed to the lottery. It’s difficult to predict exactly what they’ll do, because Shaw will be a very different coach than Karl, but their defense (which ranked 11th last season) will certainly take a big step backward with the departure of Iguodala. Kosta Koufos was more important to that team than most people realize, and they’ll miss Gallinari’s shooting as he recovers from ACL surgery.

Sekou Smith, NBA.com: The Philadelphia 76ers don’t even have a coach yet. They should be the runaway winners here, especially when you consider the fact that there isn’t a tougher crowd to deal with anywhere than Philadelphia sports fans. Most of the pessimists believe they are headed for an awfully tough season with this latest rebuilding adventure. It could be even worse that any of us imagined if they don’t find the right coach to lead this mismatched bunch. New general manager Sam Hinkie has stripped the roster down and is going full-blown rebuild without the one player (All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday, who was traded to New Orleans) who gave this crew a little spark last season. As my main man Bubba Sparxxx said years ago, this could get UGLY!

Lang Whitaker, NBA.com’s All Ball blog: I think Denver could be in for a fall. They’ve lost the Coach of the Year in Karl, Iguodala made a play for the Bay, and they also traded away their starting center, Kosta Koufos. I know Shaw will be a good NBA coach for a long time, and Denver still has some pieces (Andre Miller, Ty Lawson), but they’re in that dangerous middle ground between being a contender and a pretender. And it doesn’t take much to slide back down that hill.

Mr. Shuhmann, if you knew Gallinari a litlle more, you’d know his not just a shooter, like he was in his rookie season. Tearing an ACL while shooting seems awkward to me, in fact he was attacking the rim!! stereotyping players’ skills is not an option. Peace

And btw i doubt nyc fall Melo was in the best shape ever last season n im pretty sure he has gotten in even better shape n hopefully stat can stay in good shape n if Jr can b more consistent. then they should b fine a long it the defense getting better n better each year

Really i like how nugget fans like to bash on Melo. How can y’all complain about him not being able to get y’all out of the first round except for once when he single handedly as a rookie took y’all from one of the nba laughing stocks to a play off team he did what even “the great” lebron couldn’t do as a rookie and not to mention that if it wasn’t for him y’all wouldnt even have some of the good players y’all do have now from the trade that sent him to NYC because if he really wanted to screw denver he would have waited and pulled a lebron at the end of the season……so stop being dumb n give Melo the respect he deserves plz ppl get over it already atleast y’all received something

No matter what I wish or hope but the guys are absolutely right about Denver. I’m a big time fan and it’s hard for me to understand why you let Coach Karl down after so many years of steady progess! There was no chance for them to keep Ujiri with Toronto knocking on his door and I know how much it means to him, so no hard feelings about that. But Kroenke really lost his mind by blowing his chances to extend Karl’s contract because of a dispute about McGee’s MPG or whatever it was. He should have been the one losing his job, no one else. Obviously, I won’t give up on the squad that easy (take a look at last years suprising success), but I feel like this is going to be a tough year for the mile high city. We’re now in between the chance of landing a decent pick or making a chase for a lower playoff spot and I could not tell which of these options I prefer…

mmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………….. do I take a team that won 57 games in 2013 but lost andre igoudala, coach karl and ujuri and koufos in the Denver nuggets? do I take the Utah jazz? a team that lost one of the best bigs in the game in al Jefferson also paul milsap and probably mo Williams. or do I take a team like the Philadelphia 76ers who lost jrue holiday, never even got a hold of Andrew Bynum and don’t even have a coach cause the lost doug Collins? you’ve also got the lakers who will prob be worse after losing d12, the bucks who where the 8th seed and have no Jennings no ellis no mbah a moutah could go down further than before and the kings who wont have tyreke evans to contribute in a bunch of ways………………………………………………….. I’m gonna take………….. the nuggets. they’ll be in the lottery probably. I don’t even have them making the playoffs!

I have no idea why they fired george karl. I’m a bulls fan but it was nice to see a team without a true superstar thrive. Was a fun team to watch. I think if danilo was around in the playoffs it would have been a deciding factor and changed their outcome. Its sad because this season they’re not going to be nearly as good, definitely not contenders anymore. Poor decisions by management.

I hope you all realise NY essentially traded Novak for Bargnani. If you’re telling me that trade makes the Knicks worse, you’re insane. Then you add in that we added MWP, another year of Melo in his prime, and Shump’s continued development and a very good bench returning, there’s no way the Knicks don’t win at least 50 again this year. If there’s a decline at all its because they’ll end up winning 52 instead of 54.

Why is everyone saying “weak East”? This might be the best the East has looked in a decade or so. Of course you have the back-to-back champs in the Heat, but there is more than that. Pacers are obviously on the rise and replace psycho T with Scola, big upgrade. The bulls have virtually the same team as last year but replace Nate with Rose, obviously a huge upgrade. Nets went out and added Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett giving themselves a truly solid starting 5. Knicks won’t fall as bad as everyone says they will, Amare will be more healthy, they add Bargnani and World Peace at the cost of role/bench guys at best. Atlanta got a coach that looks to be a great one and replaced their key loss of Josh Smith with the next closest option of Paul Milsap. Lets not forget that the Pistons had a huge offseason brining in a new coach, point guard, and small forward to a team that already seemed like it could be on the rise with Monroe and Drummund. Not to mention a cellar dweller like the Bobcats making a couple moves to improve their post, Raptors showed last year after gettin Gay they could compete, Bucks got rid of shot happy players, added a new coach, and looks poised for the future. The East is looking very solid people, don’t over look them.

Nuggets will be just fine. not only will they make the playoffs as a top 6 seed, they could very well win a playoff series. Igoudala will be missed on D but he couldn’t knock a free throw down to save his life and that was our achilies heel. All the offseason aquisitions are very good free throw shooters, and Foye is a huge pickup along with Nate.

Why even name who will implode/explode if they never even made playoffs this past season? To me they are already ashes (unless they are Cleveland, Wizards, or Pistons). These are the playoff teams of yesteryear, who will get lottery picks next year, because they will implode/explode this season: Hawks, Celtics, Bucks for East and Denver, Utah, Lakers for the West. Those teams will be knocked out by Cavaliers, Wizards, Pistons, New Orleans, Minnesota and Portland (or Mavericks). Just my opinion.

I just dont understand. Philly possibly destroyed their future when they got injury-prone Bynum…so they go out and trade for the draft rights to a guy who may have knee problems for the rest of his career??

NBA players come back from ACL injuries all the time, but let’s keep in mind this 200 pound BIG MAN (ironic right?) has never played in the NBA.

Before criticizing the writing of someone else, you should ensure that you’re writing everything perfectly. Here are your errors:

1) “Truth to it,” not “truth too it”
2) By not reading, you make “yourself,” not “your self”
3) “Completely,” not “compltely”
4) “Now that my rant is done” is a partial sentence.
5) “Jeff Caplan never said anything about Jason Kidd being the brains of the team, we all agree Mike Woodson is that.” – should have a semicolon, not a comma between phrases
6) “The guy who make it all” should be “makes it all”
7) “With out a leader” should be “without a leader”
8) “A guy too run things” should be “a guy to run things” (that’s two mistakes regarding “to” versus “too”
9)”With out a leader on the floor and a guy too run things New York has no chance to go deep in the playoffs, if they even make it in a eastern conference that has bacome alot stronger.” – run-on sentence
10) “alot” should be “a lot”
11) “Think about your comments before you post them people, maybe even a little editing, it will go a long way.” – bad sentence structure

Who is the idiot now, Learntooread? By the way, even in your name you used “too” improperly.

lol Last year you guy didn’t even mention the Knicks and when they did they said that the knicks would probably have to fight for 4th in the atlantic. jeff caplan is wrong, biggest slip because they lose J.kidd no disrespect to that man but h e didn’t score in the playoffs,they seemed to have gained more than they lost with the world peace pick up.The east will be better than last year with the new nets, rose returning to the bulls, an emerging Detroit and Washington.But I believe the knicks will be a better team as well, But only time will tell i believe shump and stat will surprise a lot of people this year with their improvements, all they need is a good back up point guard and they are set for a championship run

I agree with the 76ers and possibly Denver but no way does ny slide there bench is better , their defensive will be better with world peace and a third year shumpert and they have some insurance for stod with bargani , they will be good

I don’t understand how people are writing off the Denver Nuggets already. They were a playoff team before Iguodala came here and will be a playoff team now that he’s gone. They still have plenty of pieces left on the team. Let’s face it, George Karl has never proven that he can win in the playoffs, it was a smart move to let him go. Fans in Denver have been calling for his head for a few seasons now.

So what we lost a solid defender in Iguodala, I sure won’t miss what he brought on the offensive end. Very sporatic, undecided, and turned the ball over too much. Team defense will just be more heavily stressed upon now, which Shaw can do I think. They won’t get to 57 wins or have home court in the first round but no way they drop to a lottery team. 6 seed looks good, still got the Mile High advantage.

see, you have to look at the playoff teams that were not playoff teams this past year. Dallas, Houston and maybe even New Orleans. These 3 teams plus Coach Karl are 4 reasons denver will not make the play offs. As i said before, they will still have 20 more wins than my sixers. I’m just saying.

Knicks will still win 50+ games. Knicks will still challenge for Atlantic crown (ok that alone doesn’t say much). Yes Bklyn made some nice strides, and yes D Rose will be back, and yes Indy looks frightening. Knicks aren’t poised for nearly as much of a fall as many predict (although I still see them hard pressed to escape the 2nd round). A lot hinges on health of course, but Amare could flourish in a bench role. Bargnani may well prove a good pickup (and if he doesn’t Novak wasn’t cutting it anyway last season). Shump is poised for a big year. No doom and gloom on the horizon.

Are we forgetting the fact denver is in this conversation every year haha but we gotten 50 win seasons for like 4 or 5 straight years everyone expected us to fall in the lottery the year following the melo trade and what happened 50 win season but we gotten put out the playoffs in the first round for like 4 straight years i think the karl move was good but bad at the same time hes a excellent coach but the lack of not getting out of the first round i guess he needed to go even tho we i think the nuggets should of picked up mike brown im still excited to see what brian shaw will do but everyone has there own opinion.. but i still think we should be a top 5 seed by far with addition of hickson and robinson and with gallo returning and a exciting team overall denver well be just fine.

I honestly think people are sleeping on the Knicks. People forget that last year was pretty much the first year that they had their entire team intact / with a full training camp and, despite a ton of injuries, made way more noise in the playoffs than anyone expected last year. People also forget – somehow – that Melo played through a torn labrum in the playoffs, the same injury that forced Dwight Howard to sit out almost 2 weeks. Furthermore, while they did lose Jason Kidd, they a lot of their older more injury prone players (Camby, Kurt Thomas, etc) have either retired or been traded, replaced by a solid (if not spectacular) supporting cast that makes them deeper and younger at various positions (MWP, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bargnani, <-though I'm not expecting much from him). Granted, the East will be tougher this year and I'm not saying that the Knicks are destined to win a title with this crew, but I do think that they will surprise a lot of people this year.

The Celtics were the 7th seed last year so missing the playoffs this year won’t be that big of a fall. It’s easily the Nuggets. From 3rd seed to possibly missing the playoffs is huge. Too much turnover in a year when most of the teams in the west have improved.

Single handedly take the team to the second round? That’s funny because he spent 7 years here in Denver and could NEVER get out of the first round until Chauncey Billups (a true winner) showed up and got us out of the first round

even if the knicks are not as good as they were last year in 2015 they have a crazy amount of cap space with the possibility of signing kevin love and maybe rondo. maybe one or the other with melo. illl take that core any day so even if they have a drop off in the next two years they still have the lure of playing in NY and will still be playoff teams in those years. as a knick fan i am satisfied.

come on people Denver is probably the most obvious answer next to my Sixers. The Nuggets will have 20 more wins than my Sixers. People we dont have a coach yet. We blew up the team to get younger however we traded our best player (who is still pretty young) for someone with bad knees. Whats the point of trying to get younger if the younger player has a medical condition before even putting on a jersey. Look i get it, even with Jrue this team wasn’t going anywhere. I get that people say it was time to rebuild and if you take a condemmed house and rebild it that it will turn out better. Well, that all depends on the contractor doing the work and right now, the Sixers foreman is Sam Hinkie. For those of you that dont know, Sam Hinkie came to the sixers from Houston and some of the first moves he made was to get 4 players that Houston didn’t want. Our foreman just took free wood off of a different contractors site only problem is the wood isnt straight which means our house is gonna be crooked and eventually fall over on itself. I can only hope that Sam Hinkie has calculated the amount of time it takes to get from south philly to new jersey while being chased by 10,000 screaming sixers fans because he will be chased out of town. He’ll be ok though, from what i hear its easier to build a house in NJ. I’m just saying.

You sellouts have to stop pinning down the knicks, its annoying the lack of respect we receive now that we are turning our franchise around. I also believe you guys are over hyping the nets and the bulls

An offensively oriented lineup full of players who should be retired and stars who can’t play without the ball in their hand (Carmello, JR Smith, Amare). Last year was THE year for the knicks. They signed all of those ‘experienced’ guys with the aim of putting everything in for a major run. They failed. This year they are worse, and other teams are better.

Nets will destroy them this year, and this is coming from a person who was a die hard Knicks fan back in the Ewing days.

“players who should be retired…” Who exactly are you talking about? Melo? Shumpert? The Knicks got rid literally every older player on their roster, with exception to Kenyon Martin.

The Nets, on the other hand, spent more than the GDP of Ukraine to get a bunch of aging players who will see MAJOR drop offs in their production this year, mark my words. I see them falling somewhere between what happened to the Lakers last year and NYK’s season last year. I don’t think they will disappoint as bad as the Lakers, but they are being overhyped in exactly the same way. Similar to the Knicks last season, I think their bodies will breakdown as the season wears on and their bench is trash outside of Kirilenko.

I think you guys got Denver seriously underrated. Yea they lost an incredible defender in Iguodala, and a 7 footer in Kosta, but they still have two 7 footers protecting the rim. Robinson and Faried are constant energy. Lawson is a stud point, obviously everyone can argue he’s ‘not an all star’ and blah blah blah but he still can very well lead a team. Shaw only learned from the best in Phil Jackson. Iguodala’s offense was all over the place, Corey Brewer was good for a 10-11 night then follow it up with a 2-15 the next game….I definitely think they wont have a 57 game winning season again or even be top 5 or 6 in the West…but a LOTTERY team?! speechless.

I’m a bulls fan by the way so my comments are non bias, however, I watched every game lil Nate played last year and I don’t care what team he’s on, or what conference he’s in, he’s taking them to the playoffs. And Randy Foye will drop 5 treys on anyone any day.

The nuggets are going to be better this year than they were last year. They have Nate Robinson and Randy Foye now.. that sounds like a great replacement for Iguodala. Foye and Robinson are offensive Gold.

The recruits may be offensive gold, but Iggy was defensive gold, and it’s defense that wins. Sorry, I agree with the experts. Karl and Majuri had something going. Josh has disseminated it with ego and stubbornness. He will reap what he sewed at the lottery and lack of seats filled in the stadium. Get ready for a long, disappointing year.

Definately not…not in a million years. Lakers are back in lottery mostly likely with that horrible lineup.

Their best players are Kobe (coming off an ACL injury), Gasol (frequently injured all of last season) and Nash (injured much of last season). Gasol and Nash have seen a big decline, Gasol cannot play with D’Antoni, and who knows when Kobe will return and if he’ll be half the player he was).

Aside from this group of guys who do the Lakers have? Nobody.. They are going to be horrendous.

knicks should not be in there the might get worse i think the will be a 5 or 6 seed but out of the playoffs not happening i dont like the cap strapped team their building and if carmelo walks the have no way to even replace him and if he is smart he will walk lol but thats next year 76ers is the the most obvious choice the have no 1 to play for them the center the traded for might not even get on the court for them this year which is 2 years in a row the have no coach and no talent and what talent the do have the need to trade away young is a good trade peace maybe the can get some more draft picks in next years big draft atleast the will have plenty of talent coming in and plenty of cap room to sign more but this isnt called whos in better posistion this team is obvious the worst are really close to it in the league

I think all the obvious choices have been listed. Denver is the most tragic……..what karl was building with Ujiri was kinda special……….and we wont get to see the final act. Its a lotto team for sure and hard landing for Shaw. Philly will be a d-league team. And utah……well, with no bench, no matter how well hayrward and favors play….and Kanter…the team will lose Its a very cynical move for management in utah. Knicks are going to fall……..but in a weak east they probably make the playoffs. And then dallas…………i mean this is on paper just a terrible team.

Jeff Caplan is out of his mid bringing the Knicks into this discussion. He forgets we have Carmelo Anthony and a solid roster with a prominent bench. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but just to correct you, the brains of the team was Coach Mike Woodson, not Jason Kid, and despite his intelligence on the floor, Kidd could barely finish out half the season last year yet we wont 12 straight before the playoffs. Come on cuz!

led me add……..There are only three decent teams in the east..miami, chicago and indiana. Toronto will be improved and boston might actually not be so terrible. But new york doesnt win with just carmelo……..injuries will plague them again.

I read these things all the time and once again you have made the same mistake I see over and over again. You did not read. Although your comment may have some bearing and maybe even a bit of truth too it, by not reading you make your self look like an idiot and people compltely disregard your comment. Now that my rant is done. Jeff Caplan never said anything about Jason Kidd being the brains of the team, we all agree Mike Woodson is that. Jeff Caplan said that Jason Kidd is the brain on the floor, he is the guy who make it all tick. With out a leader on the floor and a guy too run things New York has no chance to go deep in the playoffs, if they even make it in a eastern conference that has bacome alot stronger. Think about your comments before you post them people, maybe even a little editing, it will go a long way.

@ Learntoreed – Sorry buddy but I believe it is you who did not read my reply correctly. I stated clearly that although Jason Kid “used his intelligence on the floor” in the first half of the season, he could not finish the second half and was barely on the floor, yet we won 12 straight games near the end of the season “with him on the bench”. Clearly the brains of the team is and has always been Mike Woodson. Bottom line is that we could win without Jason Kid on the floor, and people dont give Melo and the rest of the team the credit that is due. If anything, the roster improved greatly this upcoming season.

Remeber, the Knicks traded FOR Bargnani. Their roster is a bit strange. I don’t imagine they’ll get very far, middle seeding in the Playoffs probably. Just because New York is a famous and storied city doesn’t mean their team is an automatic champion!

right, we’re really going to miss Steve “I’ll make a three if I’m wide open for ten full seconds but other than that I’m completely useless” Novak and Marcus Camby. Even Copeland, as pleasant of a surprise offensively as he was, we’re not really going to miss and I foresee him doing terribly in Frank Vogel’s system.

We haven’t made the most colorful offseason moves, but we gave up nothing and got a career 16ppg player in Bargnani, which is hardly a bust. Is the next Dirk, obviously not. But hes hardly as bad as Kwame Brown, Darko Millicic, or other lottery busts. We also got Artest who had a really great season last year (scoring up six points from 2011-2012) that unfortunately was overshadowed from all the stupid melodrama in LA. I don’t know how people can say we are worse this year when we have brought virtually our entire team back and added key offensive and defensive players.